BILL NUMBER: SB 1824	CHAPTERED  09/27/00

	CHAPTER   730
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 27, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 25, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 30, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 28, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 7, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 6, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JUNE 20, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 3, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 11, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MARCH 27, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Kelley
   (Principal coauthor:  Senator Leslie)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2000

   An act to amend Section 25404.3 of, and to add Sections 25404.3.1
and 25404.8 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to hazardous
waste.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1824, Kelley.  Certified unified program agencies:  counties.
   (1) Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental
Protection to adopt implementing regulations and implement a unified
hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory
program.  A city or local agency that meets specified requirements is
authorized to apply to the secretary to implement the unified
program, and every county is required to apply to the secretary to be
certified to implement the unified program.  Each certified unified
program agency (CUPA) is required to institute a single fee system to
fund the implementation of the unified fee system.  Existing law
requires the secretary, if no local agency has been certified in a
county by January 1, 2000, to determine the methods by which the
unified program shall be implemented and to select any combination of
specified implementation methods.
   This bill would require a city or other local agency that is
implementing the provisions regulating the handling of hazardous
materials or the storage of hazardous substances in underground
storage tanks, and that wishes to administer the unified program, to
request the secretary to include the agency in that implementation
structure.
   The bill would, as of July 1, 2001, establish the Rural CUPA
Reimbursement Account in the General Fund and would authorize the
secretary to expend the money in the account to make specified
allocations to a county that implements the unified program pursuant
to one of those methods.  The bill would require such a county to set
the fees under the single fee system so that the fee amounts
collected and the amount allocated by the secretary are sufficient to
pay the necessary costs incurred by the county in implementing the
unified program.
   The bill would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing
new duties upon counties with regard to the implementation of the
unified program.
   The bill would require the agency, by February 15, 2001, to submit
a report to the Legislature recommending a funding source for
unified program agencies that are implementing the unified program
but have a limited number of entities regulated under the unified
program.
  (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 25404.3 of the Health and Safety Code, as
amended by Chapter 144 of the Statutes of 2000, is amended to read:
   25404.3.  (a) The secretary shall, within a reasonable time after
submission of a complete application for certification pursuant to
Section 25404.2, and regulations adopted pursuant to that section,
but not to exceed 180 days, review the application, and, after
holding a public hearing, determine if the application should be
approved.  Before disapproving an application for certification, the
secretary shall submit to the applicant agency a notification of the
secretary's intent to disapprove the application, in which the
secretary shall specify the reasons why the applicant agency does not
have the capability or the resources to fully implement and enforce
the unified program in a manner that is consistent with the
regulations implementing the unified program adopted by the secretary
pursuant to this chapter.  The secretary shall provide the applicant
agency with a reasonable time to respond to the reasons specified in
the notification and to correct deficiencies in its application.
The applicant agency may request a second public hearing, at which
the secretary shall hear the applicant agency's response to the
reasons specified in the notification.
   (b) In determining whether an applicant agency should be
certified, or designated as certified, the secretary, after receiving
comments from the director, the Director of the Office of Emergency
Services, the State Fire Marshal, and the Executive Officers and
Chairpersons of the State Water Resources Control Board and the
California regional water quality control boards, shall consider at
least all of the following factors:
   (1) Adequacy of the technical expertise possessed by each unified
program agency that will be implementing each element of the unified
program, including, but not limited to, whether the agency
responsible for implementing and enforcing the requirements of
Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) satisfies the
requirements of Section 15260 of Title 27 of the California Code of
Regulations.
   (2) Adequacy of staff resources.
   (3) Adequacy of budget resources and funding mechanisms.
   (4) Training requirements.
   (5) Past performance in implementing and enforcing requirements
related to the handling of hazardous materials and hazardous waste.
   (6) Recordkeeping and cost accounting systems.
   (7) Compliance with the criteria in Section 15170 of Title 27 of
the California Code of Regulations.
   (c) (1) In making the determination of whether or not to certify a
particular applicant agency as a certified unified program agency,
the secretary shall consider the applications of every other
applicant agency applying to be a certified unified program agency
within the same county, in order to determine the impact of each
certification decision on the county.  If the secretary identifies
that there may be adverse impacts on the county if any particular
agency in a county is certified, the secretary shall work
cooperatively with each affected agency to address the secretary's
concerns.
   (2) The secretary shall not certify an agency to be a certified
unified program agency unless the secretary finds both of the
following:
   (A) The unified program will be implemented in a coordinated and
consistent manner throughout the entire county in which the applicant
agency is located.
   (B) The administration of the unified program throughout the
entire county in which the applicant agency is located will be less
fragmented between jurisdictions, as compared to before January 1,
1994, with regard to the administration of the provisions specified
in subdivision (c) of Section 25404.
   (d) (1) The secretary shall not certify an applicant agency that
proposes to allow participating agencies to implement certain
elements of the unified program unless the secretary makes all of the
following findings:
   (A) The applicant agency has adequate authority, and has in place
adequate systems, protocols,  and agreements, to ensure that the
actions of the other agencies proposed to implement certain elements
of the unified program are fully coordinated and consistent with each
other and with those of the applicant agency, and to ensure full
compliance with the regulations implementing the unified program
adopted by the secretary pursuant to this chapter.
   (B) An agreement between the applicant and other agencies proposed
to implement any elements of the unified program contains procedures
for removing any agencies proposed and engaged to implement any
element of the unified program.  The procedures in the agreement
shall include, at a minimum, provisions for providing notice, stating
causes, taking public comment, making appeals, and resolving
disputes.
   (C) The other agencies proposed to implement certain elements of
the unified program have the capability and resources to implement
those elements, taking into account the factors designated in
subdivision (b).
   (D) If any of the other agencies proposed to implement certain
elements of the unified program are not directly responsible to the
same governing body as the applicant agency, the applicant agency
maintains an agreement with any agency that ensures that the
requirements of Section 25404.2 will be fully implemented.
   (E) If the applicant agency proposes that any agency other than
itself will be responsible for implementing aspects of the single fee
system imposed pursuant to Section 25404.5, the applicant agency
maintains an agreement with that agency that ensures that the fee
system is implemented in a fully consistent and coordinated manner,
and that ensures that each participating agency receives the amount
that it determines to constitute its necessary and reasonable costs
of implementing the element or elements of the unified program that
it is responsible for implementing.
   (2) After the secretary has certified an applicant agency pursuant
to this subdivision, that agency shall obtain the approval of the
secretary before removing and replacing a participating agency that
is implementing an element of the unified program.
   (3) Any state agency, including, but not limited to, the State
Department of Health Services, acting as a participating agency, may
contract with a unified program agency to implement or enforce the
unified program.
   (e) Until a city's or county's application for certification to
implement the unified program is acted upon by the secretary, the
roles, responsibilities, and authority for implementing the programs
identified in subdivision (c) of Section 25404 that existed in that
city or county pursuant to statutory authorization as of December 31,
1993, shall remain in effect.
   (f) (1) Except as provided in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) or
in Section 25404.8, if no local agency has been certified by January
1, 1997, to implement the unified program within a city, the
secretary shall designate either the county in which the city is
located or another agency pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph
(2) as the unified program agency.
   (2) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), if no local agency
has been certified by January 1, 2001, to implement the unified
program within the unincorporated or an incorporated area of a
county, the secretary shall determine how the unified program shall
be implemented in the unincorporated area of the county, and in any
city in which there is no agency certified to implement the unified
program.  In such an instance, the secretary shall work in
consultation with the county and cities to determine which state or
local agency or combination of state and local agencies should
implement the unified program, and shall determine which state or
local agency shall be designated as the certified unified program
agency.
   (B) The secretary shall determine the method by which the unified
program shall be implemented throughout the county and may select any
combination of the following implementation methods:
   (i) The certification of a state or local agency as a certified
unified program agency.
   (ii) The certification of an agency from another county as the
certified unified program agency.
   (iii) The certification of a joint powers agency as the certified
unified program agency.
   (C) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraphs (A) and (B),
if the Cities of Sunnyvale, Anaheim, and Santa Ana prevail in
litigation filed in 1997 against the secretary, and, to the extent
the secretary determines that these three cities meet the
requirements for certification, the secretary may certify these
cities as certified unified program agencies.
   (g) (1) If a certified unified program agency wishes to withdraw
from its obligations to implement the unified program and is a city
or a joint powers agency implementing the unified program within a
city, the agency may withdraw after providing 180 days' notice to the
secretary and to the county within which the city is located, or to
the joint powers agency with which the county has an agreement to
implement the unified program.
   (2) Whenever a certified unified program agency withdraws from its
obligations to implement the unified program, or the secretary
withdraws an agency's certification pursuant to Section 25404.4, the
successor certified unified program agency shall be determined in
accordance with subdivision (f).
  SEC. 2.  Section 25404.3.1 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   25404.3.1.  A city or other local agency, which, as of December
31, 1999, has been designated as an administering agency pursuant to
Section 25502, or has assumed responsibility for the implementation
of Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 25280) pursuant to Section
25283, and that wishes to administer the unified program or an
element of the unified program identified in subdivision (c) of
Section 25404, shall request the secretary to include the agency in
the implementation structure established by paragraph (2) of
subdivision (f) of Section 25404.3.  The secretary may grant the
request for as long as the agency remains qualified to implement the
unified program or an element of the program.
  SEC. 3.  Section 25404.8 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   25404.8.  (a) In a county for which a CUPA has not been certified
on or before January 1, 2000, and where the unified program is
implemented pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section
25404.3, the CUPA is eligible for an allocation pursuant to
subdivision (d).  The CUPA shall institute a single fee system that
meets the requirements of Section 25404.5, except that the amounts to
be paid by each person regulated by the unified program under the
single fee system shall be set at a level so that the revenues
collected under the single fee system and the amount allocated
pursuant to subdivision (d) are sufficient to pay the necessary costs
incurred by the CUPA in implementing the unified program.  The CUPA
shall determine the level to be paid by persons regulated under the
unified program by conducting a workload analysis that establishes
the direct and indirect costs to the CUPA of implementing the unified
program.
   (b) A CUPA that implements the unified program pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 25404.3 shall use the
funding allocated pursuant to subdivision (d) to implement the
unified program within the jurisdiction of the CUPA in accordance
with the implementation agreement reached with the secretary pursuant
to paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 25404.3.
   (c) The Rural CUPA Reimbursement Account is hereby established in
the General Fund and the secretary may expend the money in the
account to make the allocations specified in subdivision (d).
   (d) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the secretary shall
allocate the following amounts from the Rural CUPA Reimbursement
Account to an eligible county:
   (A) If the county has a population of less then 70,000 persons,
the amount of the funds allocated from the account shall not exceed
75 percent of the costs incurred by the CUPA in implementing the
unified program.
   (B) If the county has a population of more then 70,000, but less
then 100,000 persons, the amount of the funds allocated from the
account shall not exceed 50 percent of the costs incurred by the CUPA
in implementing the unified program.
   (C) If the county has a population of more then 100,000, but less
than 150,000 persons, the amount of the funds allocated from the
account shall not exceed 35 percent of the costs incurred by the CUPA
in implementing the unified program.
   (2) The secretary shall not allocate more than sixty thousand
dollars ($60,000) for all CUPAs in an eligible county.
   (e) This section shall become operative July 1, 2001.
  SEC. 4.  On or before February 15, 2001, the California
Environmental Protection Agency shall submit a report to the
Legislature recommending a funding source, which may include fees, to
provide a stable source of funds for unified program agencies that
are implementing Chapter 6.11 (commencing with Section 25404) of
Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, but have a limited number
of entities regulated under the unified program.
  SEC. 6.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.
